1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a distribution device for a circuit operated with a liquid medium for a heating system or a cooling system, such as a hot water heating plant, a solar plant or the like. The distribution device serves to separate the medium into individual circuits each having a distribution pipe for forward and return flow, wherein the distribution pipes are provided with regulating and locking members as well as, if necessary, measuring and indicating members for the individual circuits.
2. Description of the Related Art
Distribution devices of the above-described type serve as so-called circuit distributors for distributing in an adjustable and regulating manner the heating medium circulating in a heating system to local individual heating locations. This type of device is required especially in the case of floor heating systems. A floor heating system is comprised of several individual heating circuits which are branched off from the main heating system by a plurality of adjusting and regulating members. These adjusting and regulating members require a large amount of space and must be accommodated in such a way that they are accessible for operating and maintaining them.
In order to save space, it is already known in the art to use as distribution devices pipe sections which are each connected through locking members to the forward flow pipe or the return flow pipe. In these pipe sections, pairs of openings are provided in the pipe wall, wherein the openings are offset relative to each other by 180.degree. at opposite locations. An actuating member is mounted in one of the openings, wherein this actuating member acts directly on a valve which is mounted in the other opening (DE 89 03 159 U1).
In particular in floor heating systems, it is necessary that the circuits for individual rooms can be regulated independently from each other. Since the heating circuits are of different size depending on the area of each room, in addition to the conventional regulating valves which are operated manually by means of an electric adjusting drive or through a thermostat, so-called flow rate limiting devices must be arranged for adjusting the maximum flow rates for each circuit.
Since in regulating valves the flow must always be against the valve body, these valves can only be used in the return flow in the case of heating circuit distributors. Flow rate limiting devices are mounted in the forward flow. This means that fittings which serve to regulate the flow must be mounted in the forward flow as well as in the return flow in these known heating circuit distributors.
The measuring and indicating members, such as flow rate indicators and temperature measuring devices, are independent of the regulating and locking members. In order to be able to mount the measuring and indicating members simultaneously, the heating circulating distributor described above provides for mounting the flow rate and temperature measuring units to be mounted in the return flow of the individual circuits and to combine them with the members for regulating the heating circuit, while arranged only in the forward flow are the members for preadjusting the maximum flow rate.
Particularly when compact radiators are used, it is also known in the art to combine a regulating valve with a flow rate limiting device in one structural unit (DE 43 25 737 C2) . In this regulating valve which is arranged in the forward flow, i.e., the flow is from the front against this valve, the flow rate limiting device has in an outer pipe portion a flow opening and in an inner, also tubular, portion a number of openings with different diameters which can be placed in alignment with the flow opening in the outer pipe portion by rotating the inner pipe portion. In this manner, a socket wrench can be used for adjusting from the outside several predetermined flow rates. This corresponds to the use of compact radiators having certain sizes.